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Letter to the Editor

This article originally appeared in the January 2010 Issue of INSIGHT

A New Calendar

As I look at our Industry Stock Report chart, with its final comparisons to New Year’s Day 2009, I must say I feel as though we have made some modest recovery from where we started on Wall Street in that dismal January last year, midway through (I hope!) what financial wags have been calling the “Great Recession.”

Our Collision Repair Supplier Index ended 2009 over 37 percent above its mournful beginning of the year posting. The Dow Parts and Equipment Index showed nearly identical improvement, up a very respec-table 36.51 percent YTD. Moreover, our INSIGHT Fund Index posted an even 32 percent improvement.

The national auto dealerships are still posting terrific per share stock prices. Sonic Automotive and CarMax continue to astound me at the Dow. A CarMax share of stock, at just over $21 in price, is almost 155 percent above its January 2009 price per share. Sonic Automotive did almost as nicely this month, nearly 140 percent above its initial 2009 per share price of just a hair over $4.

All told, only two of the Collision Repair Industry supplier stocks and two insurer stocks that we follow on this page posted per share stock prices below their New Year’s prices. Snap on Tools and Genuine Parts were less than three percent down.

Looking at our insurer stocks, Tokio Marine was off its January mark by about five percent, but Allstate continues to post a per share price considerably below its beginning of 2009 $33.26 per share. Progressive, on the other hand, with a per share stock price of $17.36, is up about 15 percent YTD.

As far as our refinish paint manufacturers go, Valspar is the big winner this month, with a per share stock price of $27.79 marking a 50 percent improvement throughout the year. Akzo-Nobel posted a just under 50 percent improvement in the company’s per share stock price, at $65.50 per share.

Are we out of the woods yet? No, definitely not. There was an unexpected increase in job losses last month, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, that is a worrisome statistic, and the housing market is still a mess across the nation. General Motors is still battling dealers who want to stay in business. A bright spot in the Motor City is that Ford Motor Company seems to be doing okay - and showing some really nice new car designs, too.

-Charles Baker-

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